1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program for sending/receiving data to/from an external device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A prescription describes a medicine prescribed for a patient as a result of a diagnosis in a medical institution, such as a hospital and a clinic.
Generally speaking, a patient gets a prescription issued by a medical institution, and takes the prescription to an external pharmacy that is open outside the medical institution. Then, the pharmacy dispenses a medicine in accordance with the prescription, and the patient receives the dispensed medicine. In this case, the pharmacy does not know the medication contents to be dispensed until it gets the prescription. Only after the patient takes the prescription to the pharmacy can the pharmacy begin dispensing a medicine.
To shorten the time for a patient to wait in a pharmacy, a prescription may be sent to the pharmacy in advance by fax, and a medicine may be dispensed before the patient goes to the pharmacy. According to this method, the patient does not know how busy the pharmacy is at the time of sending the prescription thereto. Therefore, even if the medical institution or doctor sends the prescription beforehand, the patient might still have to wait in the pharmacy. Another problem is that it is difficult to select an optimum external pharmacy from a plurality of external pharmacies.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-263501 discusses a method for shortening the time for a patient to wait in a pharmacy when a prescription is sent beforehand. According to this method, a display unit of a prescription sending apparatus displays a map of each external pharmacy and the time to wait for the dispensation in the pharmacy. Then, a patient specifies one pharmacy and the time to pick up a medicine when the patient sends a prescription to the specified pharmacy using the prescription sending apparatus.
However, the dispensation of the prescription is not necessarily done in sequential order. The medication may not be dispensed sequential order due to the contents of the received prescription. For example, the medicine for a patient of a serious case is dispensed on a priority basis. Thus, dispensing of the medication may not necessarily be completed on time as estimated.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-263501, after the prescription is sent to the pharmacy, the patient does not know the general dispensing (preparation) status of the sent prescription in the pharmacy, and does not know the dispensing status of the sent prescription in real time. Additionally, it is very difficult for a patient to change the selected pharmacy once the prescription has been sent to the pharmacy. In addition, in many instances due to the patient's schedule, it is also difficult to change when the patient is able to go to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription.